GENESEO,
N.Y. — Just hours after the State University of New York at Geneseo's
Distinguished Teaching Professor of History William R. Cook received word he
was the runner-up for Baylor University's 2006 Robert Foster Cherry Award for
Great Teaching, he phoned the recipient to offer his congratulations.

He found Anton E. Armstrong, Tosdal Professor of Music at
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., busily preparing for a performance,
which immediately endeared him to Cook. After all, Armstrong was hard at
work—precisely the place Cook likes to be

"I asked Anton if I was interrupting his celebration since
he had been informed about two hours earlier that he was the winner," said
Cook. "He said that he had told no one and that he was hard at work
proofreading the program for a concert the next night."

This is quintessential Cook—deflecting his own kudos
for being the alternate—and one of only three finalists—for the
award out of a field of 86 nominations representing 68 colleges and
universities, and 46 disciplines.

Then Cook mentioned how great his achievement is for
Geneseo. He is the first professor from a public liberal arts college—as
opposed to larger, public universities—to be up for the award.

"I think it speaks well not just for me but for Geneseo,"
said Cook. "It puts Geneseo in the forefront of public liberal arts colleges.
It's another place we got our 'first.'"

The Cherry Award honors outstanding professors in the
English-speaking world who are distinguished for their ability to communicate
as classroom teachers. Nominees must have proven track records as extraordinary
teachers with positive, inspiring and long-lasting effects on students, along
with records of distinguished scholarship.

Having a Geneseo faculty member nominated for such a
prestigious award will make a big impact on continuing to attract excellent
teachers to the college's faculty, said Cook, whose nomination resulted in a
personal award of $15,000 and $10,000 for the history department to foster the
development of teaching skills.

The other finalist was Robert W. Brown, Institute Professor
of Physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

It has been a busy year for Cook, who concentrates on
medieval history and has focused much of his research on St. Francis of Assisi.
Last May, he was named a finalist for the award. In October, he visited Baylor
to deliver a lecture. Then, in November, he repeated that lecture for a Geneseo
audience.

Aside from the commitments associated with the Cherry Award,
Cook has managed to accomplish interesting work in between teaching at Geneseo.
After speaking at Baylor, he flew to Italy for a three-day visit and to speak
to Friends of Florence, a group who restore works of art in Florence. During
the winter break, he spent nine days in Washington, D.C., taping a 24-video
course tentatively titled Machiavelli in Context for The Teaching Company. And
during spring break, Cook will put his French to use when he travels to Morocco
to conduct course research on how democracy has penetrated a traditional
Islamic society. While he's there, he'll ride a camel, too.

"I figure as long as you keep moving, they can't catch you,"
laughed Cook, who joined the Geneseo faculty in 1970 as an assistant professor
of history and in 1984, at the age of 40, was named a Distinguished Teaching
Professor.

He received his bachelor's degree from Wabash College in
Crawfordsville, Ind., and his master's degree and doctorate from Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Cook has made an impact on the community in other ways. He
is a columnist for the Livingston County News and a member of the board of contributors of the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat
and Chronicle. And in1998, he made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Congress.
The morning after Election Day, he sent his substitute teacher home and
returned to the classroom—where he belongs.